Gary O'Neil
- Thread starter DJ
- Start date
Kudos
UTC Legend
Exactly! Faivre and Umat need to sort themselves out. Their effort for the last 22 games has been pitiful!
DJ
Moderator
Does make for interesting reading, subjective as it is. But it’s actually quite close.
AFCB
Wolves
For us Unal, Sinisterra and Radu are valued at a combined €45 million. One likely to be made permanent another might and the third obviously won’t be.
Faivre is another €15million.
New Old Cherry
UTC Legend
There is no way on this Planet that the Wolves squad is any better player for player than ours !
They just happen to have played better than us, only very very slightly mind....reflected in their few points extra.
The transfer cost totals as mentioned elsewhere are about the same.
The two managers abilities, as also reflected in the points haul and table position, with the Cherries one game in hand..are about the same!
There we go .
They just happen to have played better than us, only very very slightly mind....reflected in their few points extra.
The transfer cost totals as mentioned elsewhere are about the same.
The two managers abilities, as also reflected in the points haul and table position, with the Cherries one game in hand..are about the same!
There we go .
Last edited:
SlowDownDerek
UTC Legend
It's something you could make a case for either way but I personally think what is absolutely clear is that Wolves and AFCB currently have significantly better squads than GON had here last season. For all the criticism he had he actually has performed brilliantly whenever he's had decent players available. His poor run here coincided with having very few attacking players who could make a difference available.
DJ
Moderator
Indeed, only the debate on ditching O'Neil for Iraola was one based on potential and style of play.
Something which any comparison with how he's doing at Wolves will not be able to ever prove or disprove.
As I said months ago, he may well be better suited to the job at Wolves than he would have been here.
SlowDownDerek
UTC Legend
I don't think they've particularly played better than us. They are only ahead of us because they won at DC and they definitely weren't better than us that day.
DJ
Moderator
Having never been one of his detractors, I agree. My issue was he shouldn't have been given the job in the first place. But that wasn't his error.
He's then done everything within his power to keep us up, which he did, job done.
I still think sacking him for someone with a more exciting method of playing the game and potential was the way to go and whether O'Neil at Wolves finishes higher than us or not is an irrelevance to that.
Neil Dawson
UTC Legend
New Old Cherry
UTC Legend
Oh gosh Yes Delboy ! ..or No in fact..I damn forgotted that....cheeky monkey that Gary lad !
Hopefully the Cherries can soon level it up at Molineux ...a reasonably lucky ground for Boscombe !
billythekid
UTC Legend
SlowDownDerek
UTC Legend
Agree, I'm delighted that they made the change they did, the style of football is generally so much better. That said I do think people are over stating how terrible it all was last season - he needed pragmatism in games where his options were limited. We've also had a few games of turgid stuff this season like yesterday, Palace and some of the early games.
I don't think appointing him was a mistake in hindsight, not just because he got the job done but because whoever appointed him clearly saw a manager in him and they were right.
New Old Cherry
UTC Legend
Interesting concept that...about second and third roles and probably about right in Gary's case...in the case of Jose Mourinho maybe bread rolls or pizza delivery boy..anyway can't quite see you having a poster of Gary on your wall Neil...but it's getting close to you sneaking a wee pic of him into your wallet !
Last edited:
DJ
Moderator
The reports from BBC and Sky at the time of the loan said £35million.
Matheus Cunha to Wolves: Atletico Madrid forward completes initial loan deal to Molineux
Matheus Cunha completes move to Wolves; striker has started only two games for Atletico Madrid in La Liga this season; the 23-year-old has eight senior Brazil caps
Perhaps there was a £9million loan fee to start with? No idea.
AFCBade
UTC Legend
It’s commented upon as
If he had another £100m of talent I would expect his tactics to change. Seeing wolves score a lot of goals now.
Also, I don’t buy this argument wolves squad is much better than afcb.
GON meant to be boring but wolves scored 7 more goals than us etc
However, GON should be nowhere near the England job. Not got the international experience that Southgate had nor management experience in tournament football that Gareth had when appointed. Southgate was also promoted to work with the younger cohorts he helped to develop
pure speculation
If he had another £100m of talent I would expect his tactics to change. Seeing wolves score a lot of goals now.
Also, I don’t buy this argument wolves squad is much better than afcb.
GON meant to be boring but wolves scored 7 more goals than us etc
However, GON should be nowhere near the England job. Not got the international experience that Southgate had nor management experience in tournament football that Gareth had when appointed. Southgate was also promoted to work with the younger cohorts he helped to develop
DJ
Moderator
I’ve only seen the game against us, but they did not look like a team who will score more goals than us… and yet they did. So just shows that goals and results don’t show the overall picture.
It’s pretty impossible (although I’m sure someone will) to deny that the feeling around the ground this season has undeniably improved due to the exciting front foot, football we now play. That’s a philosophy and identify that we didn’t have previously and I don’t think we would have had if O’Neil stayed.
It’s impossible to prove or disprove either way. But what is obvious is O’Neil didn’t show the potential Iraola does or that O’Neil could prove that he had that potential and ability to Foley and co, otherwise he would have stayed as the far cheaper option.
AFCBade
UTC Legend
Plenty of exciting football and that reflects that AI is a more entertaining manager but
1. Some fans overestimate how bad last year was
2. Our team has another £100m spent on it so should be better regardless of manager
3. Plenty of poor displays this season - got lucky second half at forest, first half vs Luton was poor, weak displays vs Man City 6-1 and Liverpool 0-4, yesterday vs forest etc. Plenty of great stuff too but not exclusively
All about opinions of course
New Old Cherry
UTC Legend
I STILL can't get my f√cking head round why O'Neil was sacked...for getting Tinpot Boscombe safe from relegation...putting Leeds and South Hampton into the Championship...and getting Wins against Liverpool in the very same f√cking season that we lost 0-9 at Anfield..and he got a Win away at Spurs ...it just doesn't make any f√cking sense !
He's even gone and beat MC since....and come back and stolen 3 f√cking points at DC....
Tell you something else....I won't even f√cking get it...if Iraola is sacked if he takes us down to 17th...but safety and having won 3-0 at OT.
He's even gone and beat MC since....and come back and stolen 3 f√cking points at DC....
Tell you something else....I won't even f√cking get it...if Iraola is sacked if he takes us down to 17th...but safety and having won 3-0 at OT.
Cherriess
First Team
He was sacked I think because the powers that be thought we needed an upgrade. They maybe thought we were at risk of relegation if he stayed and wanted someone to move us on up. They probably wanted a sexier style of football. As things are whatever we want/don't want to think, Andoni isn't quite the miracle worker we like to think he is. He's good and I'm glad we've got him but still has limitations and things to learn. Of course he does. He's a young manager and human. In the same way, O'Neil is better than people like to think. One of his strengths is that he seems to learn from mistakes. I like our style of play much better under Andoni than O'Neil, but those saying O'Neil is exactly the same manager at Wolves as he was here are wrong. He's made mistakes, reflected, adapted and grown. I don't think Wolves football is that boring under O'Neil. It may be convenient for some of our supporters to look for boring things and most people don't like to be proved wrong. The thing is that O'Neil is proving us wrong I think. It would be good if we could just concede that and wish him well but there are some big egos around who can't stand accepting they might be/have been wrong. Andoni can be a good manager with O'Neil one too. The two aren't mutually exclusive. We can be really happy we have Andoni and be excited about the future and also accept that O'Neil appears to also be a good young manager.
Kicks_On_66
First Team
I thought that the best argument against appointing GON in the first place was that the Premier League is no place for one's initial first team managerial assignment. I think it fell to Gary because there was no obviously better candidate available to AFCB at the time.
The team's performance in the final 4 matches last season raised a lot of doubts in my mind, and I suspect among those at the club as well. When a manager they had followed with interest (Iraola), with at the time a more impressive managerial track record, became available, they made a tough decision based on the information available at the time. I don't think there was any reason to believe then that GON would go on to do what he has done at Wolves.
That said, I caught parts of Wolves-Brighton yesterday, including the finish. At the end they were hanging on to their 1:0 lead with I think every available defender on the pitch, 11 behind the ball. They very nearly conceded (to the Brighton keeper!) right at the end. As one of the commentators noted, what was the plan for extra time? Had the ball bounced a little differently yesterday, the discussion here about GON right now would be a lot different, I bet.
Anyway, I wish Gary well. I hope he succeeds except when they play us. He has surprised me. I would rather have our guy than him, but some of our players need to step up. I think they will, and by the end of March we won't be spending much mental energy on Gary and the Wolves.
The team's performance in the final 4 matches last season raised a lot of doubts in my mind, and I suspect among those at the club as well. When a manager they had followed with interest (Iraola), with at the time a more impressive managerial track record, became available, they made a tough decision based on the information available at the time. I don't think there was any reason to believe then that GON would go on to do what he has done at Wolves.
That said, I caught parts of Wolves-Brighton yesterday, including the finish. At the end they were hanging on to their 1:0 lead with I think every available defender on the pitch, 11 behind the ball. They very nearly conceded (to the Brighton keeper!) right at the end. As one of the commentators noted, what was the plan for extra time? Had the ball bounced a little differently yesterday, the discussion here about GON right now would be a lot different, I bet.
Anyway, I wish Gary well. I hope he succeeds except when they play us. He has surprised me. I would rather have our guy than him, but some of our players need to step up. I think they will, and by the end of March we won't be spending much mental energy on Gary and the Wolves.
